Innovating the future

There is a critical mass of expertise, passion and innovation in Glasgow today. With its shipbuilding prowess and a long-standing business and trade hub Glasgow has a long history of applied knowledge and technological success. Combined with leading universities, ambitious businesses, existing clusters, and significant and sustained investment, Glasgow’s culture of innovation is leading Scotland with the creation of three innovation districts.

Innovation districts

Glasgow City Innovation District

Just east of Glasgow City Centre this 6 x 6 city block area encompasses the University of Strathclyde, the City of Glasgow College, the Royal Infirmary as well as the creative Merchant City quarter.

Phase 1 has already completed with over £100 million invested in the University of Strathclyde’s Technology and Innovation Centre, inovo, and Tontine. Together these house 18 major research centres and innovation organisations and over 30 innovation companies and SMEs, including the UK’s only Fraunhofer site.

Glasgow University Innovation District

This innovation district, located in Glasgow’s West End, is an internationally significant location for clinical and research infrastructure.

The Interdisciplinary Innovation Zone at the University of Glasgow and the Clinical Innovation Zone on the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital campus are the focal point for smart campus, precision medicine and chronic diseases, the nano and quantum world, and cultural and creative economies.

Phase 1 is expected to completed by 2023.

The Advanced Manufacturing Institute Scotland (AMIDS)

Anchored by Glasgow Airport and just 6 miles west of Glasgow, AMIDS will be home to the £65 million National Manufacturing Institute of Scotland and the £56 million Medicines Manufacturing Innovation Centre. AMIDS is poised to become an internationally recognised centre for innovation, research and advanced manufacturing.

Infrastructure

Since 2011 there has been over £16 billion capital investment in infrastructure, including several notable developments for Glasgow’s innovation ecosystem.

The £1 billion Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH)was opened in 2014 and is the largest critical care complex in Western Europe. Situated on the QUEH campus sits the Imaging Centre of Excellence with its 7 Tesla MRI scanner, the University of Glasgow’s Teaching and Learning Centre in addition to the Stratified Medicine Scotland Innovation Centre – all in a clinical setting.

The Technology and Innovation Centre (TIC) is the University of Strathclyde’s purpose-built facility where academics work in partnership with industry tenants to solve challenges in enabling technologies and the low carbon economy. Located just next door is inovo – the ideal location for savvy companies who wish to locate alongside academia.

The first project to come out of the Glasgow City Region City Deal, Tontine is a high-tech acceleration and growth space for young, aspiring businesses offering a unique mix of co-working space and account management. The likes of Incremental Group and Code Clan are recent Tontine graduates.

The £1.13 billion Glasgow City Region City Deal will significantly transform the metropolitan region over the next 20 years. The City Deal will fund major infrastructure projects, create thousands of jobs and assist thousands of unemployed people into work, improve public transport and – all driving innovation and growth.

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